For most, the prospect of spending time in a library conjures a feeling of doom for the impending boredom that is to come.

However, if you were to walk down the yellow brick road to the technological and creative wonderland that is The Edge, your opinion of libraries would be drastically altered. Executive Manager of The Edge, Matthew Fallon, tells us why.

“It is a library, but it's not like your average library — it's a library for the 21st century … The Edge is a place for people who are 18-25 to come and experiment. It's something to inspire people to make something … It provides an opportunity for people to collaborate and share their skills and knowledge with each other.”

The creative space itself is laden with MacBook Pros that are hooked up to the latest software, along with a number of creative laboratories. The venue is also fitted out with a recording studio, an impressive auditorium that has hosted the likes of Regurgitator, Jungle Giants and Ball Park Music, along with study bays showcasing Brisbane City and the river, and a host of free Wi-Fi spots. Oh ... and zombies.

“We had a 'Zombie Environment Apocalypse' that we did as part of our games programming. That was an alternative reality game, or real world game, where we had people camping for 36 hours in our building or on the roof around the Cultural Precinct. It was their job to survive the 36 hours and learn some new skills, battle zombies, battle militia and generally try and get by in an urban, post-apocalyptic landscape.”

If you are not an avid gamer the opportunities for amusement at The Edge are still endless. “There is nothing like this in Australia and very little like it in the world. I guess we are plugging a gap by providing access to the tools of creation for people; it represents kind of a change of what libraries are about.”

While your local library might generate notions of little old librarians with moon shaped spectacles, along with the dreaded persecution for late book returns, you will find no such thing at The Edge, which is annexed to the State Library Of Queensland. “Traditionally libraries are places to go and look at information, for us we are a place to go and make something. It's a philosophical shift to a make-place, a place for creativity.”

In-step with their wacky and progressive nature, the folks at The Edge will kick off their second birthday with something a little different, including advanced paper plane making workshops. “We are doing fifty workshops in six hours. There will also be exhibitions, emerging local artists and bands performing, along with a giant birthday present being taken across the river. There will also be a suitcase rummage, so people have a chance to sell things that they have made.”

THE EDGE CELEBRATES ITS SECOND BIRTHDAY AT THE CULTURAL CENTRE AT STANLEY PLACE IN SOUTH BANK SATURDAY FEBRUARY 25.